Kuda itu dekat sungai.

In Malay, a separate verb like English is/am/are is often omitted in simple sentences of description or location.

So:

• Kuda itu dekat sungai
• literally: horse that near river
• natural English: The horse is near the river

Malay does not need an extra word for is here. The meaning is understood from the sentence structure.

Itu usually means that, but in many everyday sentences it also helps make a noun feel specific, so it can sound like English the.

So kuda itu can mean:

• that horse
• or, depending on context, the horse

In this sentence, English often translates it as the horse if the horse is already known in the conversation.

In Malay, demonstratives like ini (this) and itu (that) usually come after the noun.

So Malay says:

• kuda itu = that horse
• rumah ini = this house

This is normal Malay word order. English puts this/that before the noun, but Malay puts ini/itu after it.

Malay does not have articles like English a, an, and the.

So sungai by itself can mean:

• a river
• the river
• sometimes just river in a general sense

The exact English translation depends on context. In Kuda itu dekat sungai, English usually chooses the river or a river based on what the speaker means.

If you wanted to make river clearly specific, you could say sungai itu = that/the river.

Here dekat means near or close to.

So:

• dekat sungai = near the river

In this sentence, dekat is functioning like a preposition of location.

It can also be used in other ways in Malay, but here the important meaning is simply near.

No.

• dekat sungai = near the river
• di sungai = in/at the river

So:

• Kuda itu dekat sungai = the horse is near the river
• Kuda itu di sungai = the horse is in the river / at the river

That is an important difference. Dekat shows closeness, not the same location as the river itself.

Not directly. Malay usually does not mark tense the way English does.

So Kuda itu dekat sungai can be understood from context as:

• The horse is near the river
• The horse was near the river
• The horse will be near the river

If there is no time word or extra context, English usually translates it as simple present: The horse is near the river.

Time in Malay is often shown with context or time words such as:

• semalam = yesterday
• sekarang = now
• esok = tomorrow

Usually this sentence is understood as singular: the horse.

Malay nouns do not change form for plural the way English nouns often do. The word kuda can sometimes refer to one horse or horses, depending on context. But in Kuda itu dekat sungai, the most natural reading is singular.

If you wanted to make plural very clear, you might use:

• kuda-kuda itu = those horses / the horses

That said, Malay often leaves number to context unless it really needs to be explicit.

Ini means this, while itu means that.

So:

• Kuda itu dekat sungai = That/The horse is near the river
• Kuda ini dekat sungai = This horse is near the river

Both ini and itu normally come after the noun in Malay.

You would say:

• Kuda itu dekat sungai itu

Here:

• the first itu goes with kuda = that/the horse
• the second itu goes with sungai = that/the river

So Malay can repeat itu after each noun it modifies. This is completely normal.